


In This Haven of Ours

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Coffee Shops, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Sex, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Levi and Erwin were in a relationship but are just friends now, Levi likes plants, Little Bit of Everything, M/M, Mild Language, Modern Era, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Plant Shops, just clearing things up, lots of plants
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-09 04:17:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11096724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A grumpy old plant shop owner lives in the harsh streets of the Manhattan, not exactly the place where you'd find a small and sweet plant shop that contradicts that of its owner. Levi Ackerman is happily content with how things are going until a rainy day brings in Eren Yeager.Eren Yeager is a businessman, that is until his own swagger and naivety got him booted from the company. Looking for a place to stay for the night in the unmerciful streets of Manhattan, he finds solace in the garden shop on 58th street.( Eren and Mikasa are around 22 to 23, while the others have stayed the same )





	1. Get Out

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Some changes were made from the original Tumblr post, so technically this one is "better." Enjoy!

4 AM was almost always the best time to wake up for Levi. 

Almost, because sometimes Hanji would come bustling into his bedroom and tell him to wake up for no absolute reason. He’d scold at her to go away, and end up waking at 7 to the incessant clanging of New York City’s traffic.

But thank god this morning was different—4 AM meant an hour before the first of several hundred cars to pass by, and an hour after the sun had just risen. This gave him time to sip from the horrible black coffee he made each morning, despite having bundles of sugar packets given to him by Erwin next door.

Speaking of Erwin, he hadn’t opened his coffee shop yet. Strange, since he usually came half an hour earlier than Levi woke up.

Hanji was nowhere to be seen either, which was expected since she always decided to come when it was busiest to Levi’s annoyance.

He took another blatant sip of the black liquid beholding him. All the plants were already watered—anymore watering and they would turn frail. The shop didn’t officially open until eight, and it was already 4:30. He needed to get ready by five. 

Half an hour until Levi’s special “alone time” ended for the day.

It was raining outside, or at least it’d started to. Perfect—he somehow appreciated the moody gleam the clouds casted above, the soft hush of raindrops knocking on the foggy glass of the shop to soothe his mental suffer—

Crash.

Levi’s small but endearing pot of white lilies tumbled to the dusty marble tiles, shattering into devastatingly tiny pieces. 

He stopped counting how many times his heart wrenched and twisted back and forth when he saw who’d done it.

A tall man, probably somewhere between 5′10 and ‘11 with beige dress pants soaked to the ankle and white shirt sheer from the rain busted into the building—his building. 

How dare he fucking knock over his special lilies.

“I need—”

“You don’t need a damn thing, now get out of my shop.”

“I’m dripping—”

“Obviously, and you’ve made quite the mess already on the floor. Get out so I can clean it.”

The man made no such move to move out of the way, only stepping back a couple of steps when Levi shoved him back to pick up the remains.

The lilies—they were scrambled everywhere, the three flowers once in bloom lay dead on the floor with their roots still intact in the loose dirt.

They’d meant everything to him—what they’d meant to him, was now destroyed—decimated. No amount of watering or replanting could fix this.

“Oh my god—I’m so sorry I...wasn’t looking where I was going. Do you need to fix it—here I’ll pay for the damages just let me grab my—”

“What kind of man are you that you think money will fix this?” Levi seethed.

He prowled further to the man trembling, too infuriated to hear the loud crack of his boots on the pieces of the pot below him. The latter, fumbled into the damp pocket of his pants and meekly tossed a ratty wallet at him.

The man, Levi had calmed a bit down to notice, had brown hair gleaming with a few streak of lighter strands. He had the same color of eyes, undoubtedly full of naivety and a spark of mischief... once. Had he not been drenched in rain water, the man would’ve most likely looked...not that horrendous.

“Everything’s in there,” the drenched man confessed. “The money, as well as anything you want. Take it. I only need a spot to stay for tonight.”

Levi considered the words thoroughly, trying to decrypt it to see if there were any lies in it. He failed to see any, and sighed rather loudly. The sound echoed throughout the tiny building around them. Taking the wallet that’d been tossed onto the ground he threw it back at the man, harder than he’d intended it too.

“Money has never been important to me. There’s a spare room in the back two feet away from the storage closet. My name’s Levi,” he spat.

Gladly, the brunet threw his hands on the smaller man’s shoulders, gripping them in gratuity. A celebrity’s smile graced his face among other features, outshining the drops of water that cascaded down his forehead.

“Name’s Eren. Eren Yeager.”


	2. You're Joking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren continues to be a millennial bitch when Levi offers to take him in after getting booted by his company. Meanwhile, Levi starts to reconsider this new guy carefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everytime you visit my tumblr kurt cobain shifts in his grave

“You mind if I call you Yeager?” Levi asked.

He sounded rather…calm, at least in the moment. Ironic, because in his hands he held a knife sharpener and his rather sharp kitchen knife, saying he would cook lunch for the both of them because he felt bad for Eren. Eren sat still in Levi’s kitchen, clad in his awfully tight change of clothes that Levi had offered.

“S-sure. Um, are you sure you’re cooking lunch—or do you actually want to kill me after what I did?” the brunet laughed nervously.

Another sigh. Apparently sighing was a thing old guys did—not that Levi looked old, he looked rather young.

“Look Yeager—I’m too fucking old to be pissed off by mundane things like this. Things come and go and it’s certainly not something I can stop,” Levi explained, holding up a can of chicken stock. “Are you vegetarian?”

“No.”

“Any allergies?”

“If I did then my doctor would’ve been a pretty shitty one.”

“Heart conditions? Liver complications? Lung issu—“

“I’m not a kid…Levi. And I hate being treated like one too, so you can stop with the joking.”

Eren shifted in the kitchen chair, turning his body away from Levi to stare aimlessly at the orchid plant on the granite counter. Even if he was pissed, there wasn’t any denying that Levi lived pretty luxuriously in a small apartment as a plant shop owner. 

“Excuse me for trying not to get you killed by poisoning or some shit. I don’t know what you’re thinking about me right now but it’s certainly not about murdering you—so lower the attitude already,” the older man grumbled, returning to his pot of something.

The brunet took one glance at the man in front of him, then turned back around. He was right—he did offer some of his clothes to replace Eren’s wet ones, and didn’t kick him out when he needed help the most. 

Perhaps he really was trying to help him and not kill him.

“So, what’s your sob story?”

“What?”

“Did you get kicked out of the company or something? Judging on your clothes that you wore before you looked like you had something to do with business.”

“I was an employee. The top ranking one, at a major export company,” Eren added, sounding a bit insecure. Levi took hint and made a mental note to look up this company later.

“Export? And why’d you get the boot?”

Levi heard nothing for awhile. Even though he rather liked prolonged silences, something bothered his gut about this one.

“Again, why—“

“ _None of your business, Ackerman_.”

“Careful Yeager—do I have to remind you who’s holding the knife here?” Levi mockingly threatened. 

That got him to shut up. Levi forced himself to hurry up with the cooking and rushed with the ingredients, forgetting to put in some of them. But why should he give a fuck, anyway? He didn’t have to take this guy in—and he certainly didn’t have to clothe and feed him either. 

Gosh he noticed how much he sounded like a mother.

He took a taste of the ramen and deemed it ready before pouring half it into two bowls. He pushed one towards the businessman, hoping he wouldn’t reject all his hard work because Levi half-threatened him. Thankfully, Eren accepted, taking a reluctant mouthful of the noodles and approved. The brunet continued to slurp it all down shamelessly as if a kid, to which Levi couldn’t contain his smirk.

“What? I thought slurping was the appropriate way to show a customer’s gratitude.”

“This is a tiny apartment on top of the tiniest plant shop in Manhattan, not some high-class five-star rating on Yelp ramen shop in Tokyo.”

“Well it tastes like one,” the brunet joked—but he genuinely did like it though. Not bad for a plant shop owner.

Levi poured his own bowl and ate it right there, not even bothering to sit down and eat it properly. He consumed it in a matter of seconds, then resorted to cleaning his own dish. All before Eren could finish his own bowl. 

Levi guessed an apology was in order.

“I guess threatening you with a kitchen wasn’t the greatest apology ever so, I’m sorry,” the dark-haired man grumbled. He always found apologizing hard, whether it was for something small or big.

“It was partly my fault though, so you don’t have to worry about it too much. Anyone else would’ve been equally as curious as you were, and I overreacted,” Eren said. He took his last bite of ramen and handed the bowl to Levi, to which he washed in a matter of seconds.

“You do the dishes pretty quickly. Faster than my own mom did.”

“Hm? Well that’s what Manhattan does to you I guess. No time for lingering around and acting like a stub here.”

Eren took it into account, but threw it away when Levi looked at him again.

“Did I screw something up again?”

“Nothing. You don’t need to know.”

“Really? After I knocked down your plant and made you clean it up? I told you I’m not a kid so lying’s not going to keep me from—“

“I said, you don’t need to know. Stop acting like you’re entitled to know everything just because you happen not to be a minor, brat,” Levi retorted, only to be taken back by the harsh bang of the chair against the kitchen counter and Eren getting up from his seat.

“I need some sleep.”

“Hope you get your sleep, beauty queen.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“I already do, thank you very much,” he hollered. Levi swore he caught a snort somewhere in the hallways of his apartment. He stashed all the unused ingredients in the fridge and finished polishing the damp dishes, then made his way to the dusty old excuse of a couch in the living room. 

The dust that puffed up as he threw himself on it nearly made him blind, but never once had he thought of replacing it. Hanji had given it to him as a gift—or rather force him to accept it because she had no room for it in her apartment. Made sense since the last time Levi’d visited her place, he had broken at least two glass beakers and cut himself on one.

The dark-haired man decided to let the younger man have his space for tonight, then deal with the brat’s attitude in the morning. It was a damn right miracle he still looked this young—living with the man wasn’t going to get any easier from here.

That is, if he planned to live with him.

“Bullshit,” he scoffed, and dialed Erwin’s number on his phone.

__________________

He smelt ramen again, and shot right up only to hit the apartment ceiling.

Great—he was sleeping at a stranger’s place and managed to get hurt as well. Great job, Eren, he thought.

Barely able to put on a shirt in time before he reached the kitchen only to be bombarded by the image of shirtless Levi, he meekly took a seat in front of the kitchen counter.

“Glad to see you woke up before three.”

“It’s Tuesday, right?” Eren ignored the prior statement.

“Saturday, smart-ass. Shop’s closed so I guess I’ll have to take you shopping around town for the afternoon—I don’t think those clothes can make your ass look bigger than they already have.”

Eren choked. Levi seemed to laugh.

But it still wasn’t why Eren was confused the heck out of his mind—he smashed a precious valuable of Levi’s, acted like a complete bitch to him afterwards, and slept in his own bed while the older man took the couch. He wasn’t completely oblivious to the fact that Levi had wanted to kill him at times, either. Eren had expected rejection—but instead he received kindness?

There were probably drugs in Levi’s ramen last night.

“You’re taking me shopping. In the district. To buy me clothes with your own money?” the brunet inquired the shirtless man.

“Well considering you still have a considerable amount of cash in your wallet left from when you threw it at me yesterday, I was going to have you choose your own clothes and buy it yourself. But like I said—money’s not a priority for me,” Levi said without looking up. He stirred the pot of miso soup in front of him lazily.

“Why.”

“Change of heart, I guess.”

“I’ve seen guys on Tinder change their status faster than I would’ve expected you to have a change of heart. Come on, spill it.”

“I’m genuinely going to take you out myself into the district and let you buy whatever the fuck you want.”

Eren leaned back into his chair in disbelief, sighing. How did he manage to end up here after getting the boot? 

He saw the bowl of miso soup and ramen being nudged towards him, and quickly grabbed any nearby utensils. Levi looked on in shock, his own hands barely touching his bowl.

“Looks like I’ll have to show you manners as well today—there’s no way in fresh hell that you’ll be eating like that under my roof,” the dark-haired man pointed with a fork. He subtly showed him how he should be eating with an example of his own.

“Sorry, princey—I don’t know about you but I don’t have the time for stuff like that.”

“It’s not stuff—it’s common decency.”

“Still not doing it.”

He gave up after that, reserving himself to his own breakfast.

___________________

Eren made multiple fruitless attempts to shove his arm into Levi’s shirt, but let Levi do the work after he grabbed his arm.

“You’re too tall for your own damn good.”

“Not my fault I’m a giant.”

“Yes it is. And now we’re going to have to head over to Erwin’s place because someone just can’t fit his long-ass arms into a simple thermal,” Levi added as he put on his shirt.

“A shirt that’s an extra small isn’t  _simple_ ,” the younger man defended. “Can I just wear my old cloth—“

“Erwin—can you still hear me, ya old man?” Eren heard him talk over the phone out of nowhere. “I’m going over to grab some shirts of yours so tall guy here doesn’t have to walk out nude. Leave it out near your door alright?”

He heard another mumble, and saw Levi cover his mouth as if to hide something but saw him lower it in seconds.

“Room 580. Just pick the clothes up outside his door and go into the nearby bathrooms to change—if you don’t meet me outside by nine then I’m heading out alone. Got it?”

The younger man nodded and headed out into the hallways in his tight-as-ever clothes and tiny coat. He heard someone snicker at the back of him.

_I hope his tiny little legs get run over by a speeding bus on the mainway._

Levi headed the other way as soon as Eren was out of sight toward the elevators, unconsciously smashing the down button. Erwin’s words over the phone from last night plagued him still, and even as he tried to swat them away they came back like flies.

_Let him stay, Levi. You can’t live out the rest of your short life in a cramped apartment hovering over your plants._

_Who said my life was short?_

_Well at this point it will be, so I suggest you let the guy prove himself to you at least._

_He doesn’t deserve it—he doesn’t deserve anything from me or this place. If you were there you would’ve seen what I meant—_

_Levi, anyone would’ve been panicking after being drenched in a rain storm while running alone in Manhattan. You know damn well this isn’t for his benefit only—you need this._

“You need this,” Levi repeated, laughing grimly. “Don’t need anything when you never needed anything at all,” he said and s


End file.
